Romio and Julietta
by zestycrouton
Summary: Romio and Julietta are in love; thanks to their feuding pets, however, they can never be wed. Enter young Princess Zelda, who is bound and determined to spend the day of the festival teaching the animals to get along, even if it kills her - and Link - in the process. And with the way things are going... it just might. Post- MC; part of the ongoing Timeline mini-series.


_So this one's... a bit longer than the others, haha. But oh well, it is what it is._

 _Just a quick note before we start: this one-shot is another entry in my ongoing 'Timeline' mini-series, in which I explore the ways I think Link and Zelda's dynamic plays out after the various games they appear in. This time around we're taking a look at The Minish Cap. No, you do not need to have read any of the other stories in this mini-series for this one to make sense, although if you would like to please feel free. At the moment, I have completed entries for Skyward Sword, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and two for Ocarina of Time (one in the CT (post-MM) and one in the AT (pre-WW)). You can find them on my profile, obviously._

 _So that's it. The tone here will be pretty different from all of the others. Enjoy._

* * *

 _ **Timeline**_

 **-The Minish Cap-**

 **Romio and Julietta**

Link awoke to the sounds of strangers infiltrating his bedroom.

Half-asleep, his first instinct was to reach for his sword and lash out at whatever thief or monster thought to make easy work of Hyrule's youngest hero… only to have his eyes settle instead on the overly-excited face of his best friend as she leaned over him, her eyes wide and manic, her grin inhumanely cheerful.

"Good morning!" She practically shouted, making him start in fear and surprise, which in turn made her burst into laughter.

Groaning, he tried to roll away and pull his pillow over his head to hide from her and her invasive 'awakeness', but she thwarted him by promptly yanking the cushion off his face and throwing it across the room.

"Get up!" she cried energetically, kneeling on the mattress and bouncing, making his entire world rattle. "Get up, get up, get up! Today's the day! The big day! And you'll never guess what we're going to do!"

Sweet Farore on high, it was too early for this.

Something caught his bleary, sleep-deprived eyes near the foot of his bed. It was a large black dog, whose shaggy head was currently resting atop the foot of Link's mattress. From his expression, he was no more happy to be there than Link was. His vacant black eyes gazed up at him in apathy while he drooled onto Link's bedsheets.

The girl finally stopped her frenetic bouncing to scowl down at Link.

"Link, please!" She whined, bending over to place her hands on his shoulders so she could stare him in the eyes, her thick, itchy hair falling into his face. She was using her all-too-familiar 'I'm-acting-pathetic-to-get-you-to-do-something-I-know-you-don't-want-to-do' tone, and her voice was boring its way through his ear canal and furrowing painfully into his brain, prompting him to groan in exhaustion and dig the heels of his palms into his eyes.

And to think, he'd actually believed that he'd be allowed to sleep in today… Curse Master Smith for allowing this hellion into his bedroom. But then, this wasn't exactly an unusual occurrence. The soft-hearted old blacksmith had always had a hard time saying no to the Princess of Hyrule.

Lowering his hands, Link turned his head and glowered up sullenly at Zelda through the bags of his sleep-deprived eyes. She was dressed up all fancy again, just like last year; pink dress, white gloves, an attempt made at taming her hair… this was a bad omen. He tried to force all his early-morning grumpiness into his eyes, hoping he could will her into leaving and letting him sleep. She didn't seem notice, being entirely too preoccupied with trying to work up the most desperate puppy-dog look she could manage.

Too bad she looked ridiculous instead of sad. Why did he put up with this nonsense again?

A long, distressed sigh slipped past his lips. Who was he kidding; he knew there was no getting away from her now that she'd breached the sacred trust of his sleeping quarters. He might as well just get over it; there'd be no more sleep for him today.

"Fine… Tell me what you want."

The maniacal grin that appeared on her lips nearly cleaved her face in two, and had him subconsciously shrinking back into his mattress and hugging his blankets to his chest in fear. By his feet, the dog let out a terrified whine.

What had he done?

* * *

The cheerful light of the mid-morning sun shimmered brilliantly overhead as the Princess of Hyrule dragged the Hero through the front gates of Hyrule Town and into the throng of eager festival goers.

A year had passed since the 'Vaati incident', and the Picori Festival was once again in full swing. As this was the one-hundred-and-first anniversary, not the one-hundredth (and since nothing dramatic every happened on one-hundredth-and-first anniversaries), the doorway to the Picori realm would (hopefully) not be opening this year as it had before, and so it was unlikely that any mad sorcerers would show up bent upon the destruction of the world and ruin the festival for him once again. Or… so he wanted to believe.

Hyrule Town was full to the bursting this year with visitors from the surrounding farms and settlements, merchants lining the streets with stalls, shopkeepers with their games, food vendors hawking their wares, and attractions galore for everyone to enjoy. Zelda promptly ignored them all, jerking Link and the dog away from the festivities and off towards the residential district of the town.

She had explained everything to him earlier in a rapid, breathless rush while Link had stumbled lethargically through the motions of dressing, washing his face, and finding something to eat for breakfast.

"So there I was at the festival this morning looking at all of the games and stalls while I waited for you to wake up when all of a sudden this lady at a fortune telling booth called me over and told me that the stars had given her a vision about me in her dreams last night and that for only twenty rupees she could reveal to me my fortune so naturally I paid her on the spot and you'll never guess what she told me!"

She said it all in one breath. He'd long since given up wondering how a girl so small could hold so much air in her lungs. The princess was an enigma that defied common logic.

Still half asleep, Link just barely had the presence of mind to keep his mouth shut, though it took every spare ounce of his willpower not to reply to her bubbly question with a sarcastic, ' _Beware of con artists who take advantage of gullible rich princesses?_ ' She probably would have kicked him again.

"True love!" The excitable girl practically squealed, answering her own question and making Link wince and Rolf the dog whimper. How did she hit such a high pitch with just her voice?! And so early in the morning! "She told me that today at the festival I would get to bear witness to an act of true love! Can you believe it?! That's so crazy! Which naturally got me thinking- who do I know at the festival who would be capable of performing an act of true love? And then it hit me! The answer was so obvious!"

Here, she stopped in her rapid-fire breathless tirade to stare at him expectantly. Link, who was currently engrossed with slowly chewing his chunk of stale bread took a second to realize that Zelda had stopped talking and was now clearly waiting for some kind of response. Dang it, he'd zoned out again…!

Desperate, he cast his mind around for something that might serve as a respectable response.

"Er…"

Perfect.

"Link!" She groaned reproachfully. "Come on, think! Who are the two most obvious love birds you know?"

He swallowed down his bread and took another bite, only giving the question a fraction of his attention. Lovebirds? Did he even know any lovebirds?

As though reading his mind, Zelda rolled her eyes and pointed to the dog. From his spot on the kitchen floor, Rolf gazed back with obvious trepidation, as though her gloved finger represented the condemnation of the Goddesses themselves.

"…The dog?" Link said stupidly.

Zelda looked like she was about to have an aneurysm.

"No, not the…! It's Romio! Romio and Julietta! They've been dancing around marriage for months now even though they're crazy about each other, but whenever anyone asks them about it, they always say that the only thing keeping them apart is the fact that their animals aren't getting along! So I got to thinking…"

Oh no. Oh, gods no. Whenever Zelda concocted one of these crazy plans of hers, it almost always resulted in a great deal of stress and embarrassment for him. Why oh why did he agree to spend so much time with this crazy princess?! He could have been sleeping!

"What if you and I volunteered to watch Rolf and Scratcher today so that Romio and Julietta can spend the festival together?! Except we're not just pet-sitting- we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that by the end of the day, Rolf and Scratcher have put aside their differences and become best friends, thereby removing the last obstacle keeping Romio and Julietta apart! And then they'll be so swept up in their gratitude that their love will overflow and they'll have no choice but to get married right then and there!"

Link had stared at her for a moment in numb stupefaction before turning his head towards the doorway and calling into the main section of the house, "Smith, are you sure there aren't any other chores that need my attention today?"

The gruff older man who had taken Link in as a child responded with a curt, "No. Stop trying to weasel out of this. I told the king that you'd look after Zelda today, so quit your whining and just do it!"

Sometimes, Zelda's smiles could look downright sinister.

"Oh, come on, Link." She'd said cheerfully as the two left the house, a noticeable skip in her step and a sullen drag to his. "I know you don't care about romance and all that, but we're still going to have fun! Just you, me, a cat and a dog at the festival! What could possibly go wrong?!"

Which brought back Link to the here and now.

Scratcher the cat, a fluffy white demonic feline with sharp claws and a nasty temperament (he could attest to this personally; he'd been at the wrong end of her temper both at regular size and in miniature) now sat atop the roof of Swiftblade's house hissing and baring her fangs while Zelda struggled to lure it down with a pond reed she'd plucked from the river bank.

Somehow, mere moments after picking the cat up from Julietta's house and bidding the loving couple farewell, the creature had sunk its vicious teeth into Zelda's forearm and skittered away while the princess swore and nursed her injury. They'd taken off in pursuit immediately afterward, but how it had managed to climb atop the sword master's house in so little time was a secret to everybody.

"Here, kitty kitty!" Zelda sing-songed softly from below, standing on her tip-toes as she struggled to stick the reed within swiping distance of the cat. "Do you want to play with this fun toy? I got it just for you! Come on! Get the toy!"

Unfortunately for his best friend, even at her full, impressive thirteen years of height, she was still too short to reach the cat even with the plant in her hand.

Link, who was sitting back against a tree, securing Rolf's leash as the dog scowled up at his mortal enemy, couldn't help but enjoy the sight of his best friend's fruitless struggle. This is what she got for waking him up so early in the morning and making him spend the entire day of the festival babysitting a couple of ornery animals.

"Ugh…! Link! C'mere and help me!" Zelda finally demanded, giving up on the reed and casting it aside.

Scratcher's beady little eyes followed the plant's movements with rapt attention before turning back to Zelda and glowering down at her like a vicious hawk eyeing a small, whiney baby bunny.

"Help you how?" Link called back, bored.

"I dunno. Give me a boost or something! Let me step up on your back, or… give me a ride on your shoulders!"

Yeah, no, that wasn't going to happen. She already walked all over him enough as it was; he wasn't about to let her actually place her foot on him.

"Sorry, Zelda. I would, but… It's taking everything I have to keep ahold of Rolf."

The dog was sitting placidly at his side, the leash limp in Link's hand.

"Well then… I don't know, think of something!" She growled, becoming agitated, blowing her hair out of her face with an indignant huff.

Ugh… maybe it was just because he was in a foul mood this morning, but there was something about her voice today that was just grating on his nerves.

"Maybe you should try luring it down with your sweet personality." Link deadpanned, prompting Zelda to screw up her face and stick her tongue out at him.

"You're such a brat… Fine, then! I don't need you! I'll get her down myself!"

And with that, the princess stomped towards the corner of Swiftblade's house and began trying to scale the porch free-hand.

Link could only stare, completely flummoxed, as she managed to haul herself up atop the handrail despite her skirt getting in the way, wobbled precariously on the aged wood, and slowly rose to her feet, turned her attention to the lip of the awning overhead, struggling to reach it.

"Here, Scratcher!" She called out, somewhat breathless, trying not to grunt as she shifted her weight to keep her balance. "Sweet Scratcher… Pretty Scratcher… With such pretty fur, so white and shiny, like pure sunlight at dawn…"

On the one hand, it was pretty funny watching Zelda try to climb up the side of this building with her puny little arms. In a bizarre way, she was like a hero from those dumb old stories, the ones who stand beneath damsels' windows and declare their undying love… only in this case, Zelda was the damsel and the object of her love was a cat. Somehow, that seemed fitting.

On the other hand… it was a really, really stupid and potentially dangerous thing to do. Not that she had no experience climbing things; the two of them had climbed countless trees in the years that they had been friends. Zelda wasn't some dainty shut in; she loved to get her hands dirty, wrestling in the dirt, catching frogs in the moat, challenging the castle guards to mock sword-fights. It was just… well, normally when Zelda tried to climb something, she wasn't wearing a dress.

This wasn't just any dress, either. It was one of her fancier outfits, all pink lace and frills and complicated skirts and whatnot, the kind she only wore for parties or feast days, which… well, today would count as one such occasion, he supposed. Only she'd known that she'd be running around with him, getting into trouble like they always did, so why she'd bothered to make herself look all pretty was anybody's guess. Her hair was already a mess, just like it always was. What was even the point? It was like the older she got, the more effort she put into her appearance, which was… fine most of the time. Only now it was coming back to bite her in the butt.

As she reached up, her fingers catching on to the edge of the roof, Link felt something inside of him start to panic. Scratcher the cat was eying her white-gloved little fingers like they were rather delicious looking mice. Her feet, clad in her favorite pair of slippers, scrambled at the side of the wall, searching for purchase as she dangled from her hands from Swiftblade's awning, fighting with the skirt of her dress that simply insisted on getting in her way.

It happened in a flash.

Scratcher let out a particularly malevolent yowl, baring its fangs and lashing out, scoring the tops of Zelda's fingers with its claws, tearing through her gloves and leaving several bloody slashes across her digits.

Zelda released her hold on the roof instinctually, her feet coming down at an awkward angle atop the porch railing. She barely had time to wail in panic before she lost her balance and went toppling over backward.

Link didn't even remember moving. One moment, he was watching the scene play out in mute horror with Rolf; the next, he was jumping towards her, trying to catch her and break her fall.

Unfortunately for him, heroic as his intentions may have been, he wasn't fast enough to catch her. He was, however, just barely fast enough to act as her makeshift cushion.

Zelda's body crashed down upon him with a surprising amount of force for a girl so thin and boney, the bulk of her torso driving the wind from his lungs, her elbow bashing painfully into his nose, her head slamming into his forearm like a leaden cannonball, leaving the appendage bruised and numb.

There was a brief moment of pain and confusion as the two lay on the ground, groaning pathetically. After a couple seconds of struggling to orient and disentangle themselves from one another, Zelda clambered to her feet, her dress now grass-stained and wrinkled, nursing her head and her bleeding fingers. Link pushed himself up after her, struggling for breath, trying in vain to stem the flow of blood now gushing from his nose.

The two preteens let their gazes connect. They winced in tandem.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah… you?"

"I'b fine…" Or at least he would be when his nose stopped gushing like a broken barrel sieve…

Zelda let out a worrying groan.

"Oh no… Link, where's Rolf?"

Turning his head, Link looked back towards where he'd been sitting to see that, sure enough, the dog had taken advantage of the commotion to slip away. Ugh… why hadn't he tied the leash to something when he'd sat down? Oh yeah, because he'd wanted to use it as an excuse to not have to help Zelda.

"Where's Scratcher?" He countered, turning back and pointing towards the now-vacant roof.

As one, the two let out heavy sighs.

They had lost the pets.

Wonderful.

* * *

"Link! Wait!"

Link slowed to a stop, panting heavily through his mouth as he turned to look back at Zelda, his nose still throbbing but thankfully no longer bleeding.

The two of them had spent the last several minutes racing up and down Hyrule Town searching for the renegade pets but to no avail. With the streets as crowded as they were thanks to the festival, the hunt was proving to be more difficult than it should have been, and it didn't help that they were operating under a sort of time-crunch. Romio and Julietta were somewhere in that crowd, all wrapped up in each other's presence and enjoying the festival to their heart's content (just like he should have been if not for these thrice-cursed animals); if one of them stumbled across their runaway pets before Link and Zelda could find them, they were in for a world of trouble.

His companion, however, was proving to be more of a detriment to the search than an asset. She clearly wasn't cut out for running around town like this. Red-faced and sweaty, Zelda finally managed to catch up to Link at the top of the stairs overlooking Hyrule Town's central plaza where she promptly collapsed against the stone railing, wheezing like an invalid.

Though he knew it was terrible of him, he couldn't help but grin at the sight of her in such distress.

"Aw, what's wrong? Is the little princess too delicate to run around in the streets with us common folk?"

Secretly, he was grateful for the moment of rest too. His lungs were burning; he just wasn't about to tell her that.

"Shut… up..." She gasped, pushing her hair out of her face so she could scowl at him. "You try… running around… in a dress…"

He snickered, folding his hands behind his head.

"Hey, you're the idiot who wore it even though you knew you'd be running around the festival with me today."

Her eyes flashed dangerously as opened her mouth, clearly about to shout at him, but then to his surprised she caught herself at the last moment and turned away, looking flustered.

"Whatever… Shut up. You wouldn't understand."

"Clearly not." He agreed, looking at her askance.

She was avoiding eye contact now, her eyebrows slanted, her lips turned down in a pout. He knew that expression well; it was her 'I'm annoyed with you and want you to know it but also don't want to call attention to it out loud' face. He usually considered the day a waste if he didn't get her to pull some variation of it at least once.

Well, whatever. They could use her pouting as an excuse to take a short rest and catch their breaths. Besides, maybe they'd spot the animals from up here atop the staircase…

Or that was the plan. Instead, he found himself getting distracted by Zelda's hair. It kept catching in the wind and billowing about her face. Now that he was looking at it properly, she had the weirdest head of hair known to man. It had been the object of his fascination on more than one occasion, not that she'd ever hear that from his mouth. It was long and blonde, reaching all the way down to her waist, and yet even though she'd gone through so much effort to dress up today in that silly dress of hers, her hair was in complete disarray.

True, she'd just fallen off a porch and spent the last several minutes running around town with him, but her hair had looked like this when she woke him up that morning. In fact, her hair always looked like this; like it had been properly brushed when she'd gotten out of bed but then at some point between cleaning herself up and leaving the castle, it had gotten all tangled. It now hung around her shoulders like a nest of wild blonde vines, giving her the appearance of some sort of feral, wild princess. It suited her.

"Liiiink…" Zelda suddenly groaned, turning back to him and pulling him out of his thoughts, all her previous annoyance seeming to have mysteriously evaporated.

"Yeah, what?" He asked with a sigh.

He knew this tone, too. She wanted something.

"I'm thirsty… go buy me a drink."

He let out a derisive snort.

"Yeah right. Go buy your own drink."

"But I don't have any money!" She whined petulantly, turning her big blue baby-doll eyes up to maximum pleading mode.

"How is it that you never have any money?" He asked, annoyed. "Your dad is the king. He's like… the richest man ever."

"Daddy only gave me twenty rupees to spend at the festival today, and I already spent it on that fortune teller, so…"

Link stared, expression dull. She was so aggravating sometimes… Sure, he had the money. He was in the habit of saving up what little he earned as Smith's apprentice at the forge, and on top of that, he had a good bit stored away from his adventures last year. Even so… why was it that he, someone who had to work for his money, now had to spend it on Zelda, when she had been given money for free from her daddy and had instantly blown it on some two-bit con artist? She was the single most irresponsible person he knew.

Her eyes were boring into his, all big and blue and pathetic. Despite his irritation with her and the entire day in general, he felt his resolution start to waver.

"Fine…" he grumbled, pushing himself to his feet and turning to find the nearest food vendor.

"Aw," Zelda chirped sarcastically from behind, "my hero!"

He grit his teeth and tried not to stomp as he walked off.

A few minutes later saw him back at Zelda's side, clutching a couple bottles of milk freshly purchased from Malon's milk cart. They were too young to drink ale or rum as was festival tradition so milk would have to do. Though… that wasn't the only reason he'd gone to Malon specifically.

The pretty older redhead had smiled warmly at Link when he'd approached, making him flush, and had patted his head endearingly when, upon asking who the second drink was for, received his red-faced, tongue-tied answer.

His cheeks had still been red when he'd returned to Zelda's side, and though she had glared at him shrewdly, he was pretty sure he'd managed to play it off like they were still rosy from running around. Maybe. Hopefully.

If Zelda found out he thought Malon was pretty, she'd never let him live it down.

In any event, she thanked him for the drink, and as one they both popped the corks out of their jars and went to take a big swig.

Just as Link was enjoying his first taste of ice-cold milk, Zelda's elbow connected suddenly with his ribcage, prompting him to gag on his drink, spewing an entire mouthful of the foamy white liquid all over his shirt and pants.

"Link! Link, look- _I see the cat_!"

She was up and racing down the stairs not even a heartbeat later, leaving him sitting alone on the top step, staring down at his filthy wet clothing and regretting the milk that might have been.

When he caught up to her she was at the riverbank behind the cobbler's house, near where the town fountain spewed out from the fieldstone wall, staring down a familiar boy who was on his knees, discarded fishing pole stuck straight into the muddy ground, petting Scratcher's head.

Link recognized the boy at once; it was Jim, Julietta's little brother.

"Heya, Link!" the younger boy called out, a pleasant smile on his face. "What happened to your shirt?"

"Not today, Jim." Link replied tersely, shooting Zelda a sideways glare. "Not today."

"Huh…?"

"Jim!" Zelda declared, standing as straight as she could, her chin raised, her arms akimbo, "I demand that you turn over that cat at once!"

Jim blinked dolefully up at her as he processed her words, and then, all at once, and with comical horror, understanding dawned upon his face. He pulled Scratcher up into his arms protectively.

"No way! You can't have my cat, she's… she's my cat! I don't care if you are the princess, you can't just go around stealing people's pets! It's wrong!"

The cat shot them a smug look as if to say, 'Ha, now what are you going to do, Princess!'

"I'm not trying to steal your pet, Jim!" Zelda growled, aggravated. "I just need her for something important!"

"I don't care!" Jim fired back. "Go find your own cat, this one's mine!"

"Jim-!"

"No! She's my cat! Go away!"

"Give me the cat, Jim!"

"Get away from me you crazy-!"

And just like that, the Princess of Hyrule discarded what little decorum she'd managed to retain and threw herself on top of the small child, all wild hair and crazy eyes and screaming. Jim could do nothing else but stare in wide-eyed, doe-like terror before she was upon him like a starved mountain lion, desperately trying to rip his arms away so he'd drop the cat.

From his position a little higher up on the river bank, Link could only look on, bemused, grateful that for once the object of Zelda's rage was not him.

The riverbank was filled for a moment with the combined sounds of hissing and wailing and screams coming from Zelda, Scratcher, and Jim. Just as Link was beginning to wonder if they were going to attract the attention of any nearby adults, a new sound was heard, loud and authoritative, breaking through the cacophony of the battle and drawing everyone's attention.

It was Rolf, suddenly appearing on the scene like the hero of a drama, his black eyes glistening darkly in the sunlight, his ears quirking to attention, his leash trailing behind him on the grass like a royal train.

Before Link could develop the presence of mind to try and catch him, the dog surged forward, teeth bared, barking like mad, eyes zeroed in on his mortal enemy Scratcher the cat. For her part, the cat let out a wail of terror and began squirming around even more violently in Jim and Zelda's arms, scratching and biting wildly at them both before finally managing to extricate itself from their furious tug-o-war a split-second before Rolf barreled head-first into the fray.

It was over in a flash. Zelda and Jim were both knocked straight into the river while Scratcher scaled the stone wall, vanishing under the wooden fence above them, Rolf trailing behind by mere seconds.

Link couldn't help it; he burst out laughing.

This, this right here, was karma. Sweet, beautiful, divine justice for waking him up and dragging him into this stupid animal sitting thing and falling on top of him and making him spill milk all over his shirt. It was almost enough to make him happy he'd come along today.

A moment later, Jim and Zelda's heads broke the surface of the water, and while Jim merely looked mildly confused, Zelda was positively livid.

Lifting her sodden gloved hands out of the water, she pushed her wet bangs from her face as she looked around, trying to orient herself. Upon seeing both cat and dog once again gone and Link laughing uncontrollably on the river bank, she threw her head back and let out an ear-splitting scream of frustration.

" _I! Hate! These! Animals_!" She bellowed angrily to the heavens, smashing her fist into the water after every word to emphatically punctuate her sentences, splashing poor Jim repeatedly in the face. "Curse them! Curse them both! A plague on both their houses!"

A moment later, she turned to Link and said, in a voice that was startlingly calm, "Link… can you help me get out of here? My dress is… really heavy."

Still chortling, Link forced himself upright and sauntered toward the riverbank, but ignored Zelda's extended hand, instead reaching out to pull Jim out of the river first.

"Sorry about that, bud." He said amiably even as Zelda squawked in indignation at the boy's side. "Your sister told us to watch your cat today. We're trying to get her and Rolf to get along so that Romio and Julietta can finally get married. You know how it is."

"Oh," Jim replied as he stumbled awkwardly away from the river, shivering slightly and wiping the water from his eyes. "Yeah. Ok. That makes sense."

Finally, Link turned his attention back to Zelda as she glowered up at him from the water with murderous fury. Her hair looked like a tangled mess of blonde seaweed. Try as he might, he couldn't fight down the grin on his face.

"C'mon, Princess." He relented, leaning down and offering her his hand. "Don't be mad. You have to admit, it was pretty funny."

The smile she gave him in response can't have been described as anything other than positively radiant. Sadly, he was too busy enjoying her suffering to catch the familiar mutinous glint in her eyes, and a moment after she placed her wet hand in his, she yanked him forward off the river bank and into the water.

For a second, everything was cold and black. In the murky void, he felt clarity come over him for the first time all day, and a deep understanding of one of life's truths dawned upon him.

He hated his princess.

As his head broke the surface to the sound of Zelda's mocking laughter, the only thought occupying his mind was how badly he needed to get away from her before he strangled her to death.

* * *

Zelda let out a heavy sigh, her head thudding back painfully against the outer wall of the town library for the umpteenth time.

She was seated on a bench outside the building, the town plaza just barely out of sight, the sounds of festival celebration thick on the air. Jealousy prickled at her heart. It sounded like everyone else in the town was having so much fun… And yet here she was; wet, cold, annoyed, and alone. And to think, she'd been so excited that morning… where had everything gone wrong?

Her dress was still soaked. It would probably take hours for it to dry. She was sure she looked ridiculous, sitting there like a doll someone had dredged up from the bottom of a lake. She should probably just give in and return to the castle to change, but doing so would mean abandoning the search for Rolf and Scratcher, and… well, even though she knew she looked silly now, with her dress wet and her hair in disarray and her gloves torn… she had worn this exact dress for a reason.

Today marked one year since the Vaati incident, when Link had been forced to shoulder the task of saving Hyrule and had become her Hero. Granted, it had taken longer than a day for him to set things to rights, but still. It was the festival she was counting by. She had decided that she had to mark the occasion somehow, so that morning after going through her wardrobe and finding this, the exact same dress she'd worn last year, she'd decided that there could be no other outfit for her to wear. Especially since this might be her only chance to do so; in another year, she was liable to have outgrown it completely.

She knew Link didn't pay too much attention to clothing, but that wasn't the point. This was her way of paying homage to what had happened, as well as using the festival as an excuse to spend the whole day with him… Only she then had to go and get distracted by fortune tellers and family feuds and true love and she had ultimately wound up ruining everything.

Stupid animals… she was never having pets.

For the moment, she and Link had decided to separate. They would cover more ground that way, he'd explained, though she could tell from the set of his shoulders and the way he avoided eye contact that he was mad at her. Not for pulling him into the river; they did that to each other all the time. Pulling pranks and mercilessly teasing each other was practically the basis of their friendship.

No, he'd been in a bad mood all day, ever since she'd shown up at his house. She hadn't thought anything of it at first; Link was always in a bad mood when he woke up, but he usually snapped out of it after a little while. Apparently, that hadn't happened yet today. And she was worried.

Zelda shifted her weight on the bench, feeling cold and uncomfortable and miserable. How on earth was she supposed to go about fixing this? If she didn't find the animals and makeup with Link before this turned into a full-out fight, then the entire festival would be ruined!

A figure sat down on the bench next to her, catching her by surprise and completely startling her out of her thoughts. It was a large older man in a bright blue coat, wearing a matching top hat and carrying in his hands an old, weathered hurdy-gurdy, the crank for which he was turning at a practiced, steady rate, the music it produced echoing bright and cheerful across the street.

She knew him. Or, well, maybe it was more accurate to say that she knew of him. He was the local musician and kin stone enthusiast, the Hurdy-Gurdy Man. She had no idea what his actual name was; everyone just called him the Hurdy-Gurdy Man. He was often seen walking through town, playing his music and trading stones with the children. Actually… now that she thought about it, where did he come from? And where did he live?

"Hello, little princess!" the man cried, his voice loud and unctuous like a street performer.

"Hello." She returned politely, careful not to put herself into a situation where she'd be forced to use his name, lest he find out that she had no idea what it was. That wouldn't be a very good thing for the princess to admit.

"You look like you're having a fun day at the festival." He continued, nodding down at her dress.

She grimaced.

"Yeah… I've seen better days. A dog pushed me into the river."

"Last year you get turned to stone," he chortled, "and the kingdom nearly gets conquered by a rogue magician; this year, a stray canine ruins your pretty dress. It really seems like you've been cursed to have poor experiences at festivals, doesn't it?"

But Zelda didn't answer, her mind drifting back to Link and all the ways she'd inconvenienced him at festivals in the last two years. The entire 'Vaati' situation went without saying, but today, on the one-year anniversary of that crazy event, she decided to honor that by waking him up early, forcing him to babysit pets, giving him a bloody nose, making him buy her a drink, getting him to spill his all over himself, and finally pulling him into a river.

Oh Goddesses.

"No wonder he's mad at me…" She whispered to herself in horror. "I've ruined his festival… again!"

The Hurdy-Gurdy Man glanced at her shrewdly.

"You alright there, Princess?"

"No." She groaned, burying her face in her hands. "My best friend is mad at me because I've made his entire day terrible and I don't know how to fix it."

"You're talking about Link, aren't you?" At her sullen nod, he continued, his music picking up speed. "Why, if that's all that's wrong, then the solution is simple! What we need is a grand gesture to remind him how important your friendship is!"

Zelda lifted her head slowly, both confused and, admittedly, intrigued.

"A grand gesture?" She parroted back, and the musician nodded emphatically, a maddening grin on his face.

"Of course! Last year, our fair princess was turned to stone, and Link, the Hero, worked tirelessly to restore her back to normal! A grander gesture of love and friendship I've never seen! All you need to do now is duplicate that scenario and the Hero will have no choice but to rush to your aid, forgetting all of his previous anger in his desperation to save his best friend!"

Zelda drew back, revolted.

"You want me to get myself turned to stone again?!"

The Hurdy-Gurdy Man let out a booming laugh.

"No, no! Not necessarily! You merely need to put yourself in another situation in which the Hero is required to save you! For example, I was speaking with Beedle earlier – you know, the Picolyte salesman? – and he was telling me all about this brand new Picolyte he'd created that can help you fall asleep at night! If you take a swig of that, it will knock you right out, and Link will think you've died, or maybe been cursed into an enchanted slumber or something, and he'll be so worried that he'll forget all about being upset with you! Then you wake up, and everything is back to normal!"

The turning of his crank had reached a frenetic pace as the man stared down at her, his smile wide, his eyes glowing with a fervid light.

Slowly, with exaggerated calm, Zelda scooted as far as she could away from him.

"That," Zelda said simply, "is the stupidest idea I've ever heard in my entire life."

The turning of the hand crank slowed to a crawl, the smile falling into an injured frown.

She hopped up to her feet and took a large step away from the bench.

"I'm going to leave now, because you're kinda creepy and I don't feel comfortable talking to you anymore."

The Hurdy-Gurdy Man nodded matter-of-factly, as though he were used to hearing that sort of thing by now.

Turning away, Zelda took three steps, then stopped. An idea popped into her head.

"Do you know if Beedle sells dog food?"

* * *

In the southern portion of town, Link was beating a frustrated trek back and forth from Swiftblade's to Anju's chicken coop, scowling angrily at the ground as though the dirt had done him some personal wrong and trying in vain to calm himself down.

Today had been terrible. Easily the second-worse festival of all time, behind only the disaster that had been last year, and it was all Zelda's fault. Why did she have to rope him into this stupid pet-sitting thing in the first place? Who cares if Romio and Julietta's dumb animals don't get along? If that was their actual reason for not getting married, then maybe they shouldn't get married after all. And in any event, why was this his problem? Why couldn't Zelda just leave well enough alone and let him enjoy the festival like all the normal people?

Underneath his frustration, however, there was a tiny, niggling seed of guilt. True, she had caused him no end of trouble today, but… well, that was the norm for her. He didn't want to drive her away. The festival was no fun right now, sure, but it wouldn't be any fun without her either.

The solution was obvious; find those stupid animals, lock them up in Romio's house until they either miraculously overcame their differences or killed one another, and then go on to enjoy the festival with Zelda like a normal person.

…Ok, maybe letting them kill each other was a bit much. He was letting his annoyance get the better of him. Maybe he'd just lock them up in their respective houses instead. Either way, they would be out of his hair and he'd be free to enjoy the rest of the day with Zelda.

With renewed determination, Link squared his shoulders and hurried off, his eyes scanning the town for either animal or Zelda, whichever he found first.

Unfortunately for him, it was to be none of the three; the first thing his eyes landed on as he rounded the side of Mr. Stockwell's general store was the familiar brunet head of Rolf's owner, Romio. He was alone, strangely enough, leaning with nonchalance against the side of the building and watching the surrounding throng with a bored look on his face.

Panicking, Link hastily ducked back behind the wall of the building. If Romio saw him without Rolf, he might get suspicious and start asking questions! He needed to avoid Romio finding out that they lost his dog at all costs, otherwise he and Zelda would be in serious trouble!

Thankfully, a distraction appeared as though from the heavens.

"Romio? Is that you?" Came the reedy voice of Mr. Stockwell, the shopkeeper, from around the wall.

"Yeah." The younger male replied, sounding almost as tired as Link. "I'm just taking a break for a minute; I hope you don't mind me leaning up against your store-"

"Not at all, not at all! But where is Julietta? I didn't think I'd see the two of you apart on the day of the festival."

Romio's response was lost behind a sudden surge in noise from somewhere in the crowd. When the excited babble died down, Mr. Stockwell was saying, "Well, while you wait, why not step inside and take a look at my wares? I just got a lovely new shipment of rings in- straight from Labrynna! Perhaps the festival might just be the kick in the pants you've been waiting for!"

From Romio's nervous, uncomfortable chuckle, it didn't sound like Stockwell was going to be getting that sale today.

Deciding he'd had enough eavesdropping, Link stepped away from the corner of the building so as to make his escape while Romio was occupied, only to accidentally bump straight into the postman as he came racing past.

Unprepared, Link promptly lost his balance and fell flat on his butt. The postman hardly even paused, refusing to let anything deter him from his perfect schedule.

"Watch where you're going, yah!" The civil servant called back, his pasty-white hairy legs flashing in the afternoon sun.

A man his age really shouldn't wear short shorts, Link thought mutinously, climbing to his feet and rubbing at his aching backside.

"Link?" Came a familiar voice from behind him, and Link froze. He suddenly wished he was being run over by the postman and his short shorts again.

"You alright there, my boy?" Stockwell asked, leaning out of his front door to take a look while Romio stepped closer to see if he needed any help.

"I'm fine." Link said hurriedly, hoping to wave them off so he could make his escape before being questioned about the whereabouts of Romio's pet. To his dismay, the dog owner was having none of it; he could tell from the slightly panicked look in his eyes and the forced quality of his smile that he was using Link as a distraction from the subject of his and Stockwell's previous discussion. The coward.

"What are you doing hiding behind a wall?" Romio asked, his voice falsely-jovial. "Where's that little princess who's always tagging along with you? And wait, why are you wet?"

He didn't mention his dog. Link could have cried for joy.

"She's… ah… she went to… look for something." Link answered hastily. "And oh, I, um… I fell. Into the river."

Romio's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Y'know… Jim just came by to find his sister because he also fell in the river, only he said that he got pushed in by the princess." Oh, Jim, you sweet, beautiful liar. He could have kissed the boy for not mentioning Rolf or Scratcher, but throwing Zelda under the cart probably wasn't necessary. "I didn't believe him at first, but… Did she push you in too?"

Link's mouth gaped open dumbly. He didn't know how to answer that. On the one hand, he was being handed an excuse that conveniently avoided him having to tell Romio the truth. On the other hand, he… sort of felt guilty going around and telling the townsfolk that their princess was in the habit of pushing boys into rivers.

The men seemed to take his silence as an answer in the affirmative.

"Trouble in paradise?" Mr. Stockwell asked conspiratorially.

Link blanched.

"What? No. What? It's not… I mean, we're not… She just pushed me into the river, that's all. Nothing's wrong."

"Well, if nothing is wrong, then why isn't she here with you right now?" Stockwell asked, an insufferably smug look on his face. Romio, for his part, looked sympathetic.

"Because…" Because they had to split up to go find the runaway pets, obviously. This wasn't some sort of pathetic lover's quarrel. They weren't like that. At all.

Except he couldn't tell them that.

"Because we… decided to… split up for a little while…"

Stockwell let out a sigh, turning away and shaking his head in that same exasperated sort of way Master Smith had whenever Link made an obvious rookie error in the forge. Romio crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the wall of the shop.

"Did you guys get into a fight?" The older boy asked knowingly.

Link frowned. "No?"

At least… he didn't think so. Normally when they got into a fight, there was a lot of yelling and name-calling and… well, she usually did something mean to him, like throwing mud at his face, or putting bugs down his shirt, or… knocking him into the river…

Wait a minute… Were they in a fight?

No, of course not! Don't be stupid. He wasn't even angry.

Well… ok, so he was a little angry. But it wasn't because she'd pushed him into the river; it's not like it was the first time she'd done that, and to be fair, he had been laughing at her for being knocked in first. It was pretty mean of him.

Actually… he'd been pretty mean to her all day today, hadn't he? Not, like, over-the-top mean, but his bad mood from being woken up so early hadn't gone away like it usually did. But that wasn't Zelda's fault. Well, it was her fault that they were stuck in this mess with these pets in the first place, but that was normal Zelda behavior too.

It had just seemed like it was one bad thing after another today. Had he been taking it out on her unfairly? Maybe a little… Had she noticed? Was that why she'd agreed to split up so readily? Or was nothing wrong, and he was just letting these old guys get into his head too much?

"Listen, Link." Romio knelt, placing a firm hand on Link's shoulder, his voice taking on a gentle, admonishing tone like a wise older brother. "Sometimes friends fight. Even best friends. It's normal. Even Julietta and I get in fights from time to time. What's important to remember is how much you care about your relationship with the other person, and how it matters more than your individual pride. I'm sure if you go find her and apologize, even if you don't think you did anything wrong, then the two of you will be able to make up. It would be a shame to miss out on all of the good times ahead just because you couldn't see past yourself."

Romio was staring intently into Link's eyes, his jaw firm, his tone soft yet insistent. Over his shoulder, Stockwell was nodding emphatically, as though Romio had just laid down some intense adult wisdom.

Link could only stare.

What in the world were these two weirdos talking about?!

"So…" Link drawled slowly, trying to make sense of how the conversation had gotten from him being wet from falling in the river to a serious discussion on interpersonal relationship drama, "What you're saying is… I need to take action now before I lose what's important to me?"

Romio nodded. "Exactly! You've got it!"

Got what? Some vague, clichéd platitude about life? Master Smith hated cliched platitudes about life.

"Well if that's the case," Link continued, an unintentional ironic twist to his voice, "shouldn't you go ahead and ask Julietta to marry you already?"

Romio looked like he'd been struck in the face by one of Rem the cobbler's boots. Stockwell made a choking noise over his shoulder.

"I mean, just going off what you were saying, you've been putting this off for a long time now, and she's not going to be waiting around forever you know. You should probably go ahead and take some action yourself before you lose what's important to you."

Romio's face had grown a lovely shade of magenta. His mouth worked, trying to find words to counter the younger boy he'd just been trying to counsel, but Link ran him over, his voice dull and monotonous.

"Also, you keep telling people that you're putting off the wedding until your animals learn to like each other, but like… that is the dumbest excuse I've ever heard in my life. Take it from someone who's spent the better part of the day looking after them- Rolf and Scratcher hate each other. They are never going to get along. Never. They're mortal enemies. If what you're waiting for is their approval, then you're going to be waiting until the day they die. But then, you and I both know that they have nothing to do with why you're not married yet. You're just using them as an excuse to cover up the fact that you're scared about making such a big commitment."

During the course of Link's speech, Romio's face had slowly changed shades from bright red to stark white. His jaw was still open, but it was no longer struggling to speak; now it hung open, lifeless, in some sort of perpetual, silent scream. His eyes were wide and filled with horror, and though they remained fixated on Link's face, the boy could tell he wasn't actually seeing him.

"Right," Link replied, stepping away from the catatonic older male and straightening his still-damp tunic, "I have to be off now. I need to see a man about a cat."

Or more specifically, he needed to see a man about some fish that he might be able to use to lure said cat into a trap so he could lock it back up in Julietta's house where the demonic feline belonged. Maybe then he could actually take Romio's weird advice to heart. If he and Zelda didn't fix this dumb pet problem, then they were going to miss out on what was waiting for them- the rest of the festival! And maybe he'd offer to pay for most of the games for her. Y'know, as an apology, for being such a brat all day. It was the least he could do.

Link strode away, newfound purpose in his step, as behind him the sound of Stockwell's uproarious laughter filled the air.

* * *

They met back up on the porch of Julietta's home not much later, Link cradling Scratcher in his arms, the animal for once not trying to maul him to death, Zelda leading Rolf by the leash, his tongue lolling out with this big, dumb, contented grin on his face like he'd just had the best day of his life.

Their eyes met as they stepped up to the doormat, and they froze, a sort of awkward tension filling the air.

"Hey." Link supplied first, gesturing towards the dog lamely with his elbow, "I see you found our runaway mutt."

She offered him a crooked half-smile in return. "Yup. And I see you've found our runaway cat."

After that, silence.

It was late in the afternoon now, but the festival was still going strong, and would likely continue into the early evening hours. There was still time… time to salvage their day. Time to fix… whatever this weird tension was.

Zelda was the first to move. Stepping forward, she pushed the door to Julietta's home open and cast a perfunctory look inside. No one was home; her mother and sister must be out enjoying the festival as well. Shrugging, she maneuvered Rolf around by the leash and ushered him inside.

She shot Link a questioning look.

"Do you think we should leave Scratcher here, or put her in Romio's house to keep them separated?"

Honestly? Link was done bending over backward for these stupid animals.

"Well, this is Scratcher's home after all," he answered, stepping up beside her and glancing inside the empty house, "and I don't really feel like walking next door, so…"

With feigned indifference, Link chucked the cat inside and promptly shut the door. He was sure that if anyone else had seen him do that, there'd be cries of animal cruelty echoing through the streets of Hyrule Town. In his defense, however, cat's always land on their feet. Plus he was tired. Plus… ok, whatever, that cat had tried to eat him once when he was Minish-sized, he had no sympathy for it whatsoever.

In a removed sort of way, he knew that trapping Rolf and Scratcher together in the same room was asking for disaster, but at this point, he was completely fed up with their nonsense. They'd given him no end of grief all day; let them go ahead and irritate each other for a little while.

As one, Link and Zelda stepped away from the door and plopped down on the front steps of the porch, letting out weary sighs and twin groans of pain. Somehow, he felt more exhausted now than he did after a full day of working at the forge with Master Smith. How did that work? Stress? And today was supposed to be his day off… what a joke.

Zelda caught him by surprise by resting her head on his shoulder. He stiffened, suddenly feeling nervous; was she still mad at him? Had she actually been mad at him at all, or was all of this in his head? Somewhere in the back of his mind, he took notice of the fact that her hair, now messier than ever, was dry and warm.

"I'm sorry, Link." She whispered softly, leaning her weight on him more fully so she could let her fingers play nervously with one another on her lap.

"For what?" He asked, confused. Wasn't he the one who was supposed to be apologizing for the way he'd been acting today?

"For… you know. This whole dumb pet thing. I ruined your festival again, just like last year… I know I can be really annoying sometimes, and get carried away with things that are none of my business, but… I hope you're not still mad at me."

It was Link's turn to sigh. Well, she was sort of right- this dumb animal thing had sort of ruined his day, but it wasn't really her he had been mad at… and in any event, the day had turned out to be pretty memorable. He'd be teasing her about falling off the roof and getting pushed into the river for the rest of their lives.

"You didn't ruin my festival last year, Zelda." Link corrected quietly, feeling uncomfortable with the emotional tension. "And… well, ok, the animals did kind of ruin my day for the most part… but I'm the one who needs to be apologizing, not you. You just wanted to have fun and help some people out. I was the one who was being a butt for no reason."

"Yeah, but you're always a butt." Zelda countered playfully, pulling away and poking him in the side.

"And you're always annoying." He replied, fending off her finger.

Shared conspiratorial grins flashed across their faces as their eyes met, something warm and familiar passing between them, and just like that, everything went back to normal.

Footsteps sounded out along the path, drawing closer. Together, the two exhausted preteens turned their heads and found another couple arriving at the porch, looking down at them in surprise.

"Princess!" Julietta greeted, a warm, sisterly smile illuminating her pleasantly round face and hazelnut eyes, "Link! Well now, take a look at you two!"

As though Julietta's statement had been a command, Link and Zelda both immediately turned and looked at each other.

"You look… dirty." Julietta continued, her warm smile fading into a sort of polite grimace. "Did something happen?"

"…We've had a rough day." Zelda supplied, looking down at her wrinkled, half-dried, grass-stained dress in dismay.

"So I've heard. It must have been pretty bad to have you pushing unsuspecting boys into rivers."

Zelda looked up, blinking in surprise.

"Wait, what?"

Romio, for his part, was being strangely quiet. The older male was maintaining a straight face, but there was something odd about his stance. He kept adjusting his weight nervously like he was fidgeting without wanting to fidget, and he kept his hand in the pocket of his trousers where Link could see a considerable bulge being obscured.

Link felt his eyebrows raise. Judging from the size of whatever he was hiding in his pocket… had he actually taken Mr. Stockwell up on one of his purchases?

When he saw that Link had noticed, Romio's face flushed scarlet and he cleared his throat, interrupting the conversation.

"Well, we should thank you two for playing with our pets. I take it they're back in their homes now?"

Link winced. How were they going to explain that both of their pets were now locked up in Julietta's home and one of them had probably already killed the other?

"A-actually," Zelda said softly, "they're both in here."

She gestured behind her towards the door.

A look of dull panic swept across their faces, and a moment later Romio was hastily brushing between them, climbing the porch and thrusting the front door open.

Silence met them. No sound of movement or life could be heard inside. With a nervous, backward glance, Romio disappeared inside.

"W-we were trying to get them to get along with each other," Zelda explained hastily, "but they wound up getting away and running wild all over town. It took us most of the day to catch them again, and when we did, we just… kind of… wanted to put them somewhere they wouldn't run off again…"

Romio reappeared at the door, his expression shocked.

"Julietta… come look at this…"

With a nervous frown, she squeezed between Link and Zelda and ascended the steps, following Romio inside. Curious and somewhat alarmed, Link and Zelda stood up and walked to the door.

Oh please, don't let them have ruined all of Julietta's furniture… it would take Link months to get that all paid back…

However, what they saw when they peeked in through the front door was not the aftermath of animal carnage that Link had been expecting. Rather… everything was calm and peaceful.

Rolf and Scratcher were both lying still, Rolf on the ground, Scratcher on the dining room table. For a wild moment, Link thought they were both dead… until he noticed the steady rise and fall of their sides. They were breathing.

"They're asleep." Romio breathed, sounding disbelieving.

"It's a miracle…" Julietta replied, a note of hushed wonder in her voice. "This is the first time I've ever seen them in the same room without them trying to kill each other…"

It was surreal. Too surreal. Actually, the sight of both animals reclining so peacefully in such close proximity to one another was so jarring that it was starting to make Link itch. This, this was an abomination against nature. All was not right with the world.

Slowly, Romio and Julietta backed out of the house, closing the door with a quiet snap.

The four were left standing together on the porch, looking at one another. An awkward silence passed.

Finally, Zelda broke it.

"I'm sorry. I mean, for telling you I'd watch your animals and then letting them run wild all over town- "

"Oh, no!" Julietta cut in, sounding positively delighted. "I think it's precisely because you let them run wild that this happened! They're so exhausted, they don't have the energy to fight anymore! I should be thanking you!"

When Link and Zelda both looked positively dumbfounded, Julietta hastened to explain.

"It's just… I know it's a little silly, but I've never seen them look so… peaceful. It's actually given me some hope, like maybe the two might just be able to get over their differences after all. Who knows what the future might bring?"

Here, she turned and shot Romio a sly look. The older boy cleared his throat nervously.

"Right. Um… well, I think you two have done enough for one day. Why don't you run along and enjoy the rest of the festival?"

And with that, he fished a couple of red rupees out of his pocket (notably not the one he was concealing his mystery bulge in) and pressed them into Link and Zelda's hands, ushering them off the porch. Zelda had a manic grin on her face, though Link had a feeling it had more to do with their unexpected success at getting the animals to behave and Julietta's reaction than the money they were gifted by Romio. For Link's part, he couldn't help but feel cheated; he'd earned more in the past doing much, much less. This was the last time he did Romio a favor, the miser… Though then again, if he'd actually bought what Link thought he had, maybe he was running a little low on money…

"So," Zelda drawled slowly as the two exhausted preteens entered the plaza and took in the sight of all the stalls and festival goers before them, "what do you want to do first?"

Honestly? Take a nap. Though he knew that wasn't actually an option.

His stomach grumbled loudly, answering the question for him.

"Food?" He suggested.

"Oh gods, yes. Look over there!"

And with that, Zelda took Link by the hand and began dragging him along. A begrudging smile crept its way onto his face; things really were back to normal.

About a half an hour or so later found Link and Zelda once again atop the staircase overlooking the town plaza. The sun was getting ready to set, and the merchants and townsfolk who still had stalls open were beginning to light lanterns, illuminating the square in glowing lights of reds and blues and greens and yellows.

They each had a steaming sweet potato in their hands and some apple cider they'd purchased with Romio's money, and they ate their festival snacks in relative silence, hungrily devouring their treat after another long day of misadventure.

"You know what I think?" Zelda spoke up after a while, breaking the relative peace with an inquisitive glance.

Link took a moment to chew his sweet potato before answering, trying not to let his jaw smack.

"No. What?"

"You're kind of like a dog."

She said it so matter-of-factly, Link couldn't help but stare.

"You mean in that you order me around and I kind of smell?"

She snickered. "No, stupid. In that you're loyal and brave and my absolute bestest friend."

It must have been a trick of the light because for a moment there her smile actually seemed genuine and sweet. With her hair a tangled mess, under the light of the setting sun, with a bit of sweet potato stuck to her chin, she actually looked kind of…

He turned away, his collar feeling strangely hot. No. Bad thoughts. He'd spent too much time with Romio and Julietta today.

"Yeah, well you're just like a cat. You're only nice to me when you want something."

"Hey!" She rebuffed, giving him a playful shove. "I'm always nice to you!"

"Yeah, because you always want something!"

As the two dissolved into playful bickering, a figure watched them across the plaza, an endearing smile on her face.

"Julietta!" A voice called out, bringing her back to herself, and the pretty woman turned back to smile at the face of her approaching lover.

"Oh, Romio! What is it?"

"Nothing important, my mom just wanted to invite you and your family over for dinner tonight… what are you looking at?"

"Nothing." She replied, casting one last look over her shoulder at the duo sitting on the staircase. "Just us."

"What?"

"Never mind. I'll tell my mother and we'll be over in a bit."

"Excellent."

He stepped back as though to leave, then hesitated. She looked at him curiously; his face looked pale and twitchy, and his hand was fidgeting with something in his pocket.

"L-listen, Julietta…"

"Yes?" Was he alright? He hadn't eaten anything funny at the festival and gotten sick, had he?

"After dinner, do you… Will you go on a walk with me? Just for a little while?"

She smiled, feeling her insides melt a little. He could be so shy sometimes…

"You just walked around with me all day at the festival, and you want to do it again after dinner?"

"N-not around the festival." He clarified hastily. "I mean, like… out of town. Maybe we could go… look at the stars or something?"

"Ok." She answered slowly, a little confused but delighted nevertheless.

"Perfect!"

With a quick peck on the cheek, he was gone.

The sound of loud, scandalized laughter called out to her from the plaza again. A smile found its way across her face. To think; just that morning, the fortune teller had told her that she'd bear witness today to an act of true love. Deep down, she'd been hoping that Romio would finally be able to shrug off his reservations and propose to her for real, but now, after seeing the little princess and hero in action, she knew what the fortune teller was really talking about.

And, strangely, she wasn't upset. Sure, she wanted to marry Romio more than anything, but… Seeing Link and Zelda together reminded her of how she used to be with Romio when they were younger. Was it as obvious to everyone else then as these two were to her now? Probably. In a way, she actually felt better now.

Sure, she and Romio still weren't married, but… she'd been reminded of just how perfect the two of them were for each other. She could hold out just a little while longer.

And who knows; maybe this sudden nighttime stroll he wanted to go on after dinner was only a pretense… But no, she shouldn't get her hopes up…

Then again, she'd already seen one miracle today- Rolf and Scratcher being alone together without everything descending into chaos. Maybe the idea wasn't so far-fetched after all...

Struggling to suppress her excitement, Julietta returned to her house to prepare for dinner, leaving the Hero and the Princess to enjoy their festival in peace.

* * *

 _So there you have it._

 _The inspiration from this story came, weirdly enough, from a gag-gift I got from my brother for my birthday last year; a book of essays written on the philosophy of 'The Legend of Zelda', and one of them happened to talk about the Minish Cap and mentioned Romio and Julietta, which got me to thinking. Obviously, I included several vague references to key moments in Shakespeare's famous play, which I'm sure most of you probably picked up on, though don't feel bad if you didn't- they were purposefully vague. Also... I always thought the Hurdy-Gurdy man was a total creep. You almost never see him unless he's in the vicinity of small children. Stranger danger much?_

 _A note on tone: As I'm sure anyone who's read anything else I've posted for the 'Timeline' series can attest, the tone for this one is... pretty different. There's a lot of anachronistic 'modern' speech, which might throw people off considering Zelda's medieval fantasy setting. However, unlike what I wanted to try to do for, say, 'I'll Walk With You', my focus on these stories isn't to capture the setting of the games so much as the tone of the games, and 'Minish Cap' is about as light-hearted and childish as the Zelda games get. So that's what I was trying to capture here- the silly, petty, impulsiveness of children. And if you've played MC, you know that none of the characters really talk or act like they're in any sort of medieval setting anyway, so hopefully this bothered no one._

 _Finally, Link and Zelda's characterization: this is a little weird. Unlike the other games I've covered thus-far, Zelda has little-to-no screen time, and thanks to the 2D nature of the game, Link is even less expressive, which means that there isn't a lot to go on for these characters. For Link, that means I have free reign (for the most part), and for Zelda, that means I have to base her character almost entirely off of just the intro of her running around all excited at the festival. So that's where their personalities come from; just that intro scene, and for Link, I made him more cynical just to have him and Zelda play off of each other a little better._

 _Also, this Zelda is super unique to the series too. She's the only Zelda who is a princess but who is allowed to behave like a regular kid. Think about it: the king is totally chill with her running through town (and even out of town!) all by herself, with no guards, to run amok and be normal. Part of this is probably just because we don't see her much, but it's also probably because of how new Hyrule is as a kingdom. After all, MC is the first time we have a princess, or a king, or a castle. The class divide clearly hasn't set in yet, which gives us a glimpse of a princess who gets to be both princess and normal girl at the same time, and I love her._

 _...Wow, long note. Sorry 'bout that. You know the drill; leave me a review if you liked it, or have some constructive feedback, or spotted any typos, or... y'know, whatever._

 _Next up should be 'A Link Between Worlds', and it'll be another short introspective one, not unlike 'Ashes' (though a different tone, obviously)._

 _Keep it Zesty,_

 _ZC_


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